Lisa K. Halushka

Assistant Dean and Professor

Dean Halushka is an Assistant Dean and Professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School where she teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Evidence.

Before joining Cooley’s faculty she spent 15 years as a litigation attorney, having served 11 of those years as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for the Oakland County Prosecutor’s office. During her last three years with the Prosecutor’s Office she was Chief of the Juvenile Division. Most recently she served as Chief Counsel of the Juvenile Law Group for the Legal Aid and Defender Association of Detroit, representing children in misdemeanor, felony and child abuse offenses.

The substantive focus of her work has been in the area of criminal law and juvenile law, specifically child abuse, neglect and delinquency. As part of her work Dean Halushka has handled bench and jury trials in the district and circuit courts of Wayne and Oakland County.

While in practice Dean Halushka lectured throughout the state on issues concerning juvenile delinquency and neglect. She has trained law enforcement officers on criminal procedure issues and on youth gang activity and provided continuing legal education for attorneys practicing juvenile or criminal law. While in practice the Michigan Lawyer's Weekly named Dean Halushka as one of its Top 10 Lawyers in Michigan for the year 2000, following her successful murder prosecution in People v Abraham. She has appeared numerous times as a juvenile and criminal justice expert on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News channels.

Dean Halushka is a member of the juvenile law committee of the Oakland County Bar Association and the Children's and Criminal Law Sections of the Michigan State Bar Association. She is a fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation and is a member of the Oakland County Bar Foundation.

Dean Halushka has authored articles on issues involving criminal law and procedure in publications including The Wayne Law Review and the Thomas M. Cooley Journal of Practical and Clinical Law. She is a frequent author on criminal procedure topics for the American Bar Association’s Preview of Supreme Court Cases, and is the contributing editor for Fourth Amendment Issues for that publication.

As a law student Dean Halushka graduated magna cum laude near the top of her class and was the University of Detroit Law Review’s Case and Comments Editor. She was a member of the American Inn of Court, the Urban Law Clinic and the St. Thomas More Society.

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